. When shall I have
finished learning?" He works away, time after time falling down and
picking himself up, and some one day finally walks, without thinking
about it any more. So we, in the training of our wills, need to work
patiently day by day; if we fall, we must pick ourselves up and go on,
and just as the laws of balance guide the baby, so the laws of life
will carry us.

When the baby has succeeded in walking, he is not elated at his new
power, but uses it quietly and naturally to accomplish his ends. We
cannot realize too strongly that any elation or personal pride on our
part in a better use of the will, not only obstructs its growth, but is
directly and immediately weakening.

A quiet, intelligent use of the will is at the root of all character;
and unselfish, well-balanced character, with the insight which it
develops, will lead us to well-balanced nerves.

SUMMING UP

TO sum it all up, the nerves are conductors for impression and
expression. As channels, they should be as free as Emerson's "smooth
hollow tube," for transmission from without in, and from within out.
Thus the impressions will be clear, and the expressions powerful.

The perversions in the way of allowing to the nerves the clear
conducting power which Nature would give them are, so far as the body
is concerned, unnecessary fatigue and strain caused by not resting
entirely when the times come for rest, and by working with more than
the amount of force needed to accomplish our ends,--thus defying the
natural laws of equilibrium and economy. Not only in the ways mentioned
do we defy these most powerful laws, but, because of carelessness in
nourishment and want of normal exercise out of doors, we make the
establishment of such equilibrium impossible.

The nerves can never be open channels while the body wants either
proper nourishment, the stimulus that comes from open air exercise,
perfect rest, or true economy of force in running the human machine.

The physical training should be a steady shunning of personal
perversions until the nervous system is in a natural state, and the
muscles work in direct obedience to the will with the exquisite
co-ordination which is natural to them.

The same equilibrium must be found in the use of the mind. Rest must be
complete when taken, and must balance the effort in work,--rest meaning
often some form of recreation as well as the passive rest of steep.
Economy of effort should be gained throug